


In the Stacks

by thinkswithpen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, F/M, Hogwarts Sixth Year, muggle literature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4268193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinkswithpen/pseuds/thinkswithpen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ron is with Lavender and Hermione is...happy? Wait, that can't be right, can it? Hermione finds a strange form of comfort in the Library while Ron is with Lavender.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reading has its consequences

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first ever fanfic and it shows but I still love the concept so I hope you enjoy its short chapters anyway. Consider everything disclaimed as usual and thanks to my beta and cheer leader, without whom I would never have posted anything, whytejigsaw

Madame Pince only allowed one Hogwarts student to enter the stacks, one student ever: Hermione Granger. Madame Pince wasn't prone to displays of affection, or affection at all really, at least not for humans, but Miss Granger held books in almost the same regard Pince herself did. She was reverent and kind to them and what's more she was Muggle-born. Unlike the other students she understood that someone had to get the books, sort the books, replace the books and even more surprisingly she had realised it was house-elves. It was two years ago now that Miss Granger had approached and asked to re-shelve her own books. She spoke with passion about S.P.E.W and how little there was that she could do to lighten the elf work load but she could do this. Pince had agreed, thinking to herself that Miss Granger would make a fine librarian herself some day and where better to apprentice than Hogwarts' own library?

This is how Hermione Granger came to be in Muggle literature stacks, after curfew, early in her sixth year. She was in no humour to return to the common room where Ron and Lavender would be expressing themselves all over the couches. She was deliberately taking her time re-shelving the library copy of Jane Eyre, dawdling amongst these unloved muggle books while she tried not to think about why Mrs Rochester had suddenly changed appearance to look like an older Lavender on this, her fifth time, reading the book. Hermione stopped abruptly as she walked into a warm space in the air, a warm space that smelled amazing. She closed her eyes and inhaled. Warmth and a tingling feeling spread through her, subtly exciting her. She sighed with contentment. A terrible thought occurred to her. Was Ron here under the cloak? Had he seen her smell him and sigh? She stepped back and her eyes opened wide.

'Ron?' she asked quietly, although she simply couldn't imagine what he would be doing using the invisibility cloak to get into the Muggle Stacks.

There was no answer and, in a clumsy effort to cover up that she knew exactly whom she had smelled, she added 'Harry?'

Still nothing. Her own breathing seemed deafening and her pulse was running away with itself but she listened carefully. Nothing. The silence of the books was absolute. She waved her arms through the space in front of her, brandishing Jane Eyre as a possible weapon. Her arms met no resistance, the space was empty. She stepped forward again and the same sensations washed over her. Another step and she was out, back in the chilly stacks. She took several experimental steps into and out of the spot. It was consistent every time.

Hermione shook her head, trying to resolve an inner struggle as to what happened next. She thought about the sight awaiting her in the common room, she looked down to Jane Eyre and seemed to make up her mind. She breathed out and stepped forward into the spot. She placed her feet consciously in second position, years of childhood ballet lessons coming home to calm and strengthen her. She straightened her shoulders and raised her head, eyes lightly closed. She had decided to enjoy this. Giddiness surged through her. She felt light, warm, excited and really peaceful all at the same time. It was like dancing with Victor times ten, times a hundred.

Many, many minutes later she stepped forward and hastily reshelved Jane Eyre. She walked the long way back to the Library in order to avoid the temptation to go back into the spot. She picked up Mansfield Park as she passed it and tried to repress the dreamy grin on her face. She knew what she was doing with tomorrow's free period.

 

* * *

_Three weeks later_

At the portrait hole music poured into the corridor. The Fat Lady could barely hear them shout the password.

'Hermione will bloody kill them!' shouted Ron with a grin, pleased that for once it wouldn't be him she raged at.

As Ron, Harry and Ginny entered the common room with the other players they were greeted by the sight of Luna, Parvati and the self-same Hermione at the centre of a heaving, makeshift dancefloor. Hermione was jumping up and down with her arms in the air shouting out the lyrics and shaking her hair to the beat. Harry and Ron looked at each other in wide-eyed surprise.  Any Gryffindors who weren't throbbing along on the dance floor seemed to be watching Hermione and other girls. Before they could even look to Ginny for an explanation she dropped her broom and ran into the dancefloor scrum hugging Hermione and joining in. The room then realised the team were back and they noise level rose a couple of decibels with cheering.

'What is going on with her?' shouted Harry but Ron was simply awestruck, unable to look anywhere but at the middle of the dancefloor, for all the world as if he'd been petrified. He didn't even really notice that his girlfriend was kissing him until one of her rings accidentally tugged on his hair.

Harry shrugged at Ron and Lavender and joined the dancing, receiving enthusiastic hugs from Hermione and Ginny when he made it to them. Seamus, Dean and Neville were all throwing some serious shapes eliciting uproarious laughter from the girls. Seamus was twirling and dipping Hermione, while Neville fake-tangoed with Luna, Ginny and Dean were doing the robot and Parvati was teaching Harry some sort of Muggle dance with actions. For the first time Ron thought that a serious snogging session looked like less fun than everyone else was having. Hermione's eyes were shining, a massive grin on her face. Harry had a point what was going on with her?


	2. Harry

It took Harry a while to realise that there was something different about Hermione.

At first he had just been relieved she seemed to have cheered up, she had been so miserable when Ron and Lavender got together, but now he was starting to worry that she was _too_ cheered up. Why was she smiling so much? Why had she started a dancefloor at the last common room party? Why were she and Ginny giggling, whispering and even smirking at each other these days? He admitted to himself that a large part of the reason it had taken him so much time to realise that there might be something to worry about was that now she seemed almost glued to Ginny. Spending time with Hermione these days meant Ginny too. Harry was more than willing to take what he could get in that regard. So the change in the status quo suited him and now he felt guilty for not worrying about his friend sooner. Was it all bravado? Was she trying to cover-up a broken heart?

Since Ginny had told Ron that Hermione had snogged Krum he had tried to divide his time equally between his two warring friends. He felt he should be better at this by now considering how much they fought but he wasn't. He was really uncomfortable. And he hadn't become any better at confronting them either. Hermione's need was greater this time so he tried to make up for Ron's insensitivity, also Ron was spending so much time attached to Lavender's lips that he hardly noticed Harry's presence when he was there. He couldn't face upsetting the seemingly happy Hermione with his questions, even though he knew she would ask him if the roles were reversed. He took a less-than-Gryffindor way out.

After quidditch practise one afternoon he asked Ginny if she thought Hermione was ok. Harry was ashamed to say that is seemed Ginny knew his best friend better than he did at the moment. Ginny looked from Harry to Ron and back before smiling and saying loudly 'a little romance can be very good for a girl can't it?'.   Then she disappeared into the girl's changing room with a toss of her glorious hair in her brother's direction.

Romance? Hermione was involved in a romance? Harry was baffled and Ron was so grumpy when Harry tried to discuss it with him that Harry could barely stop himself from pointing out that Hermione was free to have any romance she wanted. Ron seemed to think that it was Harry's fault that "some tosser" was making Hermione act like...act like, well Harry didn't have a word for it, but it was definitely new!


	3. Ron

Bouncy. The only word Ron could think of to properly describe Hermione these days was bouncy. He had noticed immediately.

Four weeks ago she has started to wear her hair up in a messy bun, rather than her usual severe plaits, her bushy curls spilled out of it. They bounced as she walked, talked, nodded, sometimes some escaped completley and bounced down her back or at odd angles around her head. She played with them absentmindedly annoying him no end. She bounced down the corridors to class, she bounced down from her dorm in Muggle clothes everyday (she'd never changed out of her uniform except at weekends before). She looked as if she was about to start dancing at any moment and sometimes she did! Humming to herself and bouncing about. And parts of Hermione bounced. She was suddenly bouncy all over. Ron had long been aware that bits of Hermione had the potential to do such distracting things but apart from very occassionally, at the Burrow in the summer, he'd never witnessed much of it. But now Ron was permanently distracted by the bounciness of Hermione.

Harry seemed to notice nothing. Ron said nothing, even he knew he wasn't supposed to be this distracted by not-his-girlfriend. But he was. He was so distracted it took him nearly two weeks to wonder why she was so bouncy. When he hopefully looked for evidence that she was deliberately trying to wreak this sort of havoc on him he couldn't find any. From dorm discussion it was clear that this "new attitude" was present even in classes he didn't share with her.

Even if she wasn't doing it to make him jealous, he was anyway. He was jealous of Harry, Ginny, Luna and even Neville, anyone who got to spend time with bouncing Hermione. He missed her and he didn't understand why she hadn't been like this when they were talking. Why wouldn't he make her feel like that? It was how he always thought she'd be if there was no school, no tests and no Voldemort.

So, he was jealous and he was bloody distracted! Things didn't get any better with the new clothes. First there were the skirts, proper Muggle above-the-knee skirts. Hermione's legs only generally made an appearance when swimming at the Burrow. Next she wore a dark red jumper that was lower at the back than it was at the front. Ron couldn't understand why this was actually sexier than if it had been lower at the front, it didn't make any sense but it was true nonetheless. Whole inches of Hermione's pale skin on public view with her messy bun adding just the right amount of chaos to the scene. One day, when he was watching this patch of skin while pretending to concentrate on a chess game with Harry, he saw it. Hermione was studying with her back to them, humming to herself and bouncing as she now did. Her jumper slipped a little off her shoulder and Ron saw it: A Purple Lacy Bra Strap. Bloody Hell!

All he'd wanted to do was join the dancefloor at the quidditch after-party in the common room. It looked like so much fun but they still weren't talking and he couldn't face the thought that if he joined in she might leave. The idea that he was the one who made her less fun was killing him. He's always thought he made her relax, be rebellious, softened her hard edges but he'd never inspired this. Ron thought that though he might be a bit thick he was good at chess and Hermione. He saw her first, before Harry, before bloody Krum. He annoyed her but that was because she'd had everything her own way before Hogwarts. She needed him to help her sort out her priorities. So why had her priorities become much more fun as soon as he wasn't speaking to her anymore?

The night after the quidditch match in the dorm Finnegan loudly asked the room is they thought Granger would say yes if he asked her to Hogsmeade that weekend? Ron didn't look up but could feel Seamus looking towards him every few seconds, he knew they were all waiting to see what he'd say. Neville piped up that he'd heard from Luna that she was going with McLaggen.

'Pity' said Seamus 'Granger is loads of fun these days, bet she wouldn't even make a fella go to Madam Puddifoots.'

'Yup' said Dean 'she's suddenly become low maintenance, like overnight. Lucky McLaggen eh Ron? Low maintenance birds like Lavender and Ginny are brilliant.'

Seamus and Neville winced, expecting Ron to kill Dean for calling Ginny a bird but oddly it was Harry who exploded, telling Dean off for speaking about his friends like that. Ron was too stunned by the many revelations of the conversation to put his brotherly oar in.

It didn't matter anymore that he had seen her first, now everyone could and they liked what they saw. Hermione was low maintenance? Not the Hermione he knew. She was always expecting some inexplicable thing from him and Harry. Hermione was like Lavender? Not in a million years. He never wondered what Lavender was thinking, he never thought about her when she wasn't there, she never made him laugh. When something exciting happened he didn't want to rush off and tell Lavender. Lavender didn't make him feel like his whole body was on fire just by standing near him. Hermione and Lavender had nothing in common at all!


	4. Hermione

Ron, the real Ron, was incredibly exothermic. Standing near him felt like standing beside a stove. Hermione had sometimes wondered if that only happened when he was near her but had to grudgingly admit that it was unlikely she affected anything about him, let alone his temperature. It was something she missed when they were fighting, like now. She was permanently cold. It was one of the many reasons she was mentally calling the area of Ron-ness in the stacks 'The Hot Spot'.

Its effects were long-lasting. It was like she was covered in essence of Ron for hours afterwards. What an embarrassing thought! She just meant it was like wearing his clothes or aftershave or something. It was what she imagined she'd feel like if they ever actually went out. And it started to feel like waiting to see someone before she visited the stacks too. She was dressing up to go to the library. She started to feel better about herself all the time.

Ginny took her aside in the first week and simply raised her eyebrows. Hermione had no idea how to explain this without sounding insane 'I've been seeing this really nice space in the Library and it's going really well' was an answer guaranteed to get her rushed to St Mungo's. So Hermione silently brought Ginny to the stacks, smuggling her past Madam Pince and pushed her into the spot.

For the first time since third year she saw Ginny overcome by a Weasley blush. Why would Ron make her blush? Ginny stepped back, looking flustered and a little guilty and said 'Well that wasn't Dean!'

'No it's Ron' said Hermione before she could stop herself.

'It bloody isn't!' said Ginny 'It's Harry.'

This was all very confusing. It definitely wasn't Harry. Harry didn't exude warmth. Harry never made cliché ridden butterflies flutter about her stomach. Harry didn't annoy her more than all other people in the history of the world could possibly do! Seeing Harry kiss someone wouldn't have made her resort to violence, just teasing. They both stepped into and out of the spot several times more, checking the identity of the non-existent bloke they were umm...experiencing. They finally settled that they were really feeling something, or someone, different but similar. Ginny seemed a bit distressed it wasn't Dean but very pleased for Hermione. She peppered her with questions: How long has she been coming here? Was it always Ron? Had she told anyone else? What was the longest she's stayed in? Did it feel delicious? With all these questions answered Ginny proved she was related to the twins by suggesting they spread the word and charge a modest fee. Hermione threatened to tell people that Ginny's spot wasn't Dean if she tried any such thing. It was bad enough that Lavender was the one enjoying Real Ron. She was not sharing Library Ron. If that happened she'd resort to a little more than canaries, hawks perhaps?

'How often are you coming here?' Ginny asked with a note of concern in her voice.

It had become a daily thing. She popped in when Harry and Ginny were at Quidditch practise, she took study breaks here and after Ron was mean to her in Transfiguration she has run there for comfort. It seemed that they only person who could comfort her when Ron upset her was Ron. Was this really weird? Had she once again become so wrapped up in something that it was just odd?

'Well I think it's brilliant!' beamed Ginny. ' You know when you told me to get other boyfriends? I wanted to say the same to you but Ron is so jealous that it would just backfire. This way the, eh, frustration will be out of the equation without the need for another bloke.'

Hermione looked a little more confident.

'And frankly if he'd made you mope around one day more while devouring Lav-Lav I was going to hex him!'

They grinned at each other and wandered back to the common room thick as thieves.


	5. Ginny

Ginny was very relieved. Her conscience had been nagging her every time she had seen Hermione's downcast face. She hadn't meant to blurt out about Hermione and Krum but Ron was being such a possessive twit. She had momentarily forgotten he was even more possessive of Hermione than he was of her. If she had a time-turner she'd take it back. So she heartily endorsed these harmless daily visits. She covered for Hermione, giggled with her, browsed witch magazines and even tried to help her shop for Muggle clothes from something called catalogues.

Ginny had always liked Hermione but the new, happy, frustration free Hermione was oodles of fun. The two of them and any of the Gryffindors who were avoiding Won-Won and Lav-Lav had some really great laughs using Hermione's brilliance to find fun. Eventually even Harry and Ron (when he came up for air) noticed her new attitude. Harry tried to ask Ginny about it. She had vitrtuously not to interfere ever again, but there had been a particularly obnoxious bout of Ron and Lavender hunt-the-tonsil in the common room the previous evening, so she hinted something about Hermione being transformed by romance as loudly as she could.

Ron and Harry froze in shock long enough for her to escape to the girls changing room. Ha! This is what happens when you can't see what's under you nose boys! Dean, Victor, Michael and a magical-energy-thingy know how to make a girl feel wanted. Ginny hopped excitedly all over the changing room. Happiness really was the best form of revenge it seemed.


	6. Hermione Again

Hermione's life these days felt as if it had been split in two. There was time spent with Library Ron and everything else. Time not spent in The Hot Spot was either an exciting prelude to being there or the blissful sigh of just having left it. As a side effect of all this visiting she was laden down with the classic Muggle literature she was taking as a cover. So she started lending it to anyone who seemed interested. At first it was Ginny and Luna but gradually many of the female students were asking her to pick novels for them. The male students suddenly found themselves surrounded by girls blushing and sighing over books and speaking in riddles about things called Darcys and some bloke called Austin. Harry was constantly explaining to his baffled classmates that although he'd been raised by Muggles he had no idea what a Heathcliff was and if they wanted to know they should ask Hermione.

But this was all merely an amusing by-product to her. She was as giddy as, well, a schoolgirl, right down to her very core. She felt appreciated and special and adored. The Hot Spot made her feel all this anytime she wanted. The only cloud in her sky was Ron and Lavender. It caused her to come down to earth with a bump when she saw them together. Sometimes it was a useful bump. There had been twice that she'd been so full of her library good vibes that she'd forgotten about Lavender. Once,catching up with Ron in a corridor between classes and she had been on the point of slipping her hand into his when she remembered this was the Real Ron and was left standing stock still, shaking at what had almost occurred. What a fool she could have made of herself!

The second time was, if anything, even worse; returning late from the stacks one night she saw Harry and Ron sprawled on couches near the fire in the common room. She walked towards them dreamily intending to curl up in Ron's lap and possibly even fall asleep there. She knew what it would feel like, she knew that spot was hers. She yawned and stretched in anticipation about to nestle into place. The yawn lasted the second it took for Lavender to suddenly appear in that very lap as if from nowhere.

Hermione imagined getting a bucket of icewater thrown over you felt similar. Her total rage at the ridiculousness of the situation soon warmed her up though and she snapped at Harry about his lack of studying and stormed off to her dorm slamming the door as hard as she could.

Sleep was hard to come by that night as she paced the floor of her dorm. Clearly The Hot Spot was becoming dangerous.

Alongside these lapses, where she nearly mistook fantasy for reality, was another development which seemed totally contradictory. Inexplicably Hermione found that she missed Ron. Despite spending most of her time in a happy Ron-induced fog she missed talking to him. She kept thinking of funny things to tell him and then remembering they weren't actually talking. She'd wonder how he did on some piece of homework. Was Lavender sucking his passable academic results out of him with all that snogging? She knew the fun she was having would be even better with his banter to spice it up. She tried telling some of her thoughts to The Hot Spot but the lack of response made her feel idiotic and that evening's session was much shorter than usual.

She was embarrassed in front of thin air. Only she could manage that.

But these were just niggles she told herself. Mostly she was happy, relaxed and becoming popular. Who knew this is what would happen if she had Ron? As Luna observed with her usual guileless candour 'You're even nicer now you're fun Hermione. Romance suits you.'


	7. Harry Again

Harry enjoyed his time with Hermione as much as he could and although a romance was a good explanation, he was a bit confused that she hadn't mentioned anything, at all, about it to him. She deserved some fun and he was loathe to spoil it for her so he just hoped she'd tell him about this bloke in time. In a way, it was better that he didn't know anything. He'd be rubbish at lying to Ron. Presumably Hermione knew that, which was why Harry was out of the loop.

Ron's theories on the topic were wild and frequent. To be honest Harry was getting pretty tired of them.

'No Ron I don't think Krum is apparating into Hogwarts to see her!...Because you can't apparate into or out of Hogwarts...Do you _never_ listen to her?'

'She had one date with McLaggen. Just one. And when he asked her to Hogsmeade she said no...She told Ginny that he thinks he's Willoughby but actually he's Mr Elton...Well I don't know what it means either but it can't have been good mate. Ginny laughed so much she did that thing where her tongue sticks out a little bit and you can't help laughing along with her...ahem...anyway it's not McLaggen.'

'Ron, stop it. Neville is not looking shifty.'

It was Ron's most ridiculous theory, that if she hadn't told them it must be some sort of Death Eater plot, that Harry couldn't laugh off as easily as the rest. Mad-Eye did always go on about constant vigilance and here was one of his best friends, whom Dumbledore had told him to confide in completely, acting strangely and being secretive. He tried to ignore it but two incidents confirmed his fears.

Firstly one night she turned up in the Common Room and screamed at him for not finishing some homework. Nothing new there except that Harry had finished it, she'd even helped him just a few hours earlier. They'd discussed what a rare event it was, she'd made a joke that maybe without Ron there he could actually get work done.

Secondly, there was the fact that she'd stopped tutting and sighing at each mention of his Potions book. Although he's often internally (and out loud too come to think of it ) wished she'd stop going on about it, when she finally did it was just weird. The day her cauldron exploded as he was receiving top marks for his Excellent Notion Potion she simply cleaned herself off, sighed and disappeared into the library. No tirade about cheating at all. Who was this person and what had she done with his friend? And if the tosser could make Hermione Granger forget that she wasn't top of the class in a subject was it possible he was using Dark Magic? Something had to be done. With a sinking heart, Harry knew what that was but he was not doing it alone. Oh no, Ron Weasley was most definitely coming with him.


	8. Ron Again

Romance. Romance. _Ro_ -mance. Ro- _man_ -ce. A bit of Romance. The phrase buzzed around Ron's head and flew to the front of his brain at odd times. He thought about it so much he wasn't sure he knew what it meant anymore. Apart from blokes behaving in ways that were bloody embarrassing he wasn't sure he ever had. Flowers and chocolates and jewellery and perfume, making yourself look like an idiot for a girl, that was what he thought of when he thought about romance. Hermione wasn't getting expensive gifts but Ginny definitely said romance so what was going on?

He tried to ask Lavender what she thought was romantic, it was more than possible that girls knew something blokes didn't about this stuff, but she just got very excited he was asking. She seemed to think he was planning some sort of surprise for her and didn't give him any useful information at all. He thought about owling his Mum but he couldn't risk Fred or George seeing the letter and anyway she'd just say something Mum-ish like "Be yourself" or "Tell her how you feel." like that was any help at all! The one person who would be helpful with this type of question and give him a specific answer wasn't talking to him. Blast.

The girls were all reading Muggle books and sighing at the moment so he tried reading the one Lavender kept going on about. Wuthering Heights it was called. If that was romantic then Ron really didn't know what the word meant. The book was full of mental people! And that Heathcliff bloke would've fit right in with the Death Eaters. He'd have been able to give them ideas the weirdo! Ron did not want Hermione involved in anything like that! Besides Hermione seemed, well, happy and nobody in the book did so he was probably barking up the wrong tree again.

Ron racked his brain for other information. Candles. There was something about candles. Candle-lit dinners that was it! But Hermione ate in the Great Hall along with everyone else and she seemed just as hungry as ever.

He watched Hermione carefully for more changes. If he was honest it was difficult not to: it was like someone had cast a highlighting spell on her. He had always noticed her, as a constant in his life, and whenever they were fighting like they were now he was always extra aware of her but this was so much more. It was like she was everywhere, enjoying herself all the time and she looked so good, painfully good, like someone had turned her on. Bloody Hell, the tosser better not have turned her on!

Always before when they were fighting they were both miserable but this time she'd changed the rules without telling him. He wasn't even sure they were fighting anymore. There had been twice that he was sure she'd forgotten all about it. Forgotten! She'd fallen into step beside him between classes and then just as Ron was about to talk to her, even forgive her maybe, she'd stopped. He'd pretended nothing happened. Ron was raging with her for taunting him like that, he was going to ignore her even harder now. Ha! How would she like that!

Then she did something even more bloody distracting than the bra. Oh the bra. He'd thought nothing would ever, ever be sexier. He was normal (he thought), he'd imagined much more graphic stuff than a glimpse of lacy bra but they hadn't been real and they hadn't been on Hermione, when she was sitting _right there_ in the Common Room. But the night she came back from the library in her Muggle clothes with her hair down beat it by miles. She'd come up to him and Harry who were lounging about in front of the fire and she done this thing, this unbelievably sexy thing. Basically she'd sort of stretched, right in front of him. Now that might not sound like much but Ron was confident that it was the best thing he had ever or would ever see. She'd raised her arms over her head, pushed her chest out, lolled her head back and briefly stood on her tip toes. She was like Crookshanks preparing for a nap. All he wanted was for her to settle down next to him, or better yet, on him. For one amazing second he really thought she was going to. All it took was that second for Ron to realise it: that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted Hermione to be his, without any discussion or worry or nervousness. He wanted her to skip all that bit and just be his, now, if not sooner.

He sat there gobsmacked (and inexplicably with a lap full of Lavender) trying to work out what had just happened. He heard Hermione shout at Harry and storm off and he would've thought he'd imagined it all if he didn't know that his imagination was just not that good.

So now he was stuck knowing exactly what he bloody wanted and having no earthly idea how to get it. At the best of times, when they were friends, being together seemed so far away from reality that you could barely see it. The situation now was even worse. He was with Lavender, she had some _Romance_ , she'd snogged Krum and they weren't speaking. And in the middle of all that his brain had decided to find out what it wanted. What a laugh! It was bloody impossible.

Who was this bloke who romanced her all the way to forgetting she was fighting with one of her best friends? Typical of Hermione to be so baffling about something that should be straightforward. He was with Lavender, everyone knew, everyone saw but Hermione was doing Merlin-knows-what with no-one knew who. Of course there was a bloke involved too he remembered. Ron scanned all the boys. He was sure he'd never thought so hard before as he was now about Hermione's love-life. He came up with loads of ideas but most of them didn't even make total sense to him. He shared the most plausible with Harry who seemed stupidly laid-back about the whole thing. Oh yes he could talk for hours about the whole Malfoy-is-a-death-eater bollocks but suggest a perfectly reasonable explanation for Hermione's behaviour and he scoffs as if Ron had said something ridiculous. Ron must have said something worth listening to though because finally Harry wanted to do something about it. Ron presumed they were going to follow her, or ply every male inside Hogwarts with veritaserum or something, but no, what Harry had planned was much more scary.


	9. In the Common Room

Harry needed a plan. When you were about to do something so daring it was best to have a plan, unfortunately it was Hermione who usually came up with the best plans and this would definitely be her area of expertise. He had Ron onside, after much persuasion, and they had discussed their tactics but he still needed an opening gambit. The trouble was that all he could come up with was "Hermione, you seem so happy and relaxed and we were wondering: are you under an Imperius Curse?" and even he knew that was not a good way to start. Also they needed the right opportunity, so they'd simply have to work off the top of their heads when it arose.

It arose before he'd had any time to think of a better opening gambit. Lavender and Parvati were off dealing with some crisis of Padma's, the Common Room was relatively quiet and Hermione was actually there, reading a Muggle novel, rather than studying in the Library. All the elements were in place. Harry really wished he had a plan but he wasn't one to over-think a good opportunity. He nodded to Ron and they crossed the room to the secluded corner where Hermione was curled up in a high-backed chair. They pulled over chairs, sat across from her and waited. At the end of a page, she registered their presence.

"Before you say anything, we need to talk to you" Harry started. He continued before she got a word out "Ron has agreed not to say anything but I'd like him to be here for support and I'd like you to agree to a truce with him while we talk." She looked unconvinced but was still sitting with them. Ron nodded to her and looked away.

"Please Hermione, just listen to me" said Harry in his best serious tone.

"Fine" she said sitting back and folding her arms thinking to herself that this had better be good.

"We're concerned about you. You've been behaving...differently. You started a Common Room party, you're spending a lot more time with other girls, I don't know where you are lots of the time, and don't say the Library because I've looked for you and you're not there."

Hermione's attitude hadn't softened at all yet. She had started tapping her foot a bit with impatience and Ron was still looking away from his two friends. Harry was getting to the end of the acceptable things he had to say and he was getting flustered.

"You've changed your habits." he continued "You wear your hair differently and you've changed your clothes and it's like you're dancing all the time. It's... it's...it's"

"Dead sexy" said Ron in a dreamy way, still staring off into the distance.

Harry and Hermione stared at him, aghast. It seemed to take a minute for him to work out that he'd said that out loud. A deep blush grew slowly up his neck and onto his face. He couldn't look back at them. The gnome was well and truly out of the shrubbery now.

Hermione started shaking, she took in a massive gulp of air and then released a powerful belly laugh. She laughed and laughed until she could barely breathe. Harry joined her and Ron decided to brave it out and shrugged his shoulders. This couldn't get much worse as far as he was concerned. He'd said what he thought and she'd laughed like he'd always thought she would. He felt oddly relieved.

"Well you are. Everyone's noticed." he stated as if he hadn't just embarrassed himself more than he could have possibly imagined.

"You don't...ha...you don't speak to me for months! And when you finally do _that_ is what you say?" Hermione sniggered wiping her eyes and trying to get her breath back.

Ron shrugged again and Harry, now that he was able to speak too said "Ron's right: you are very attractive and that's part of what we're worried about."

"Worried?" Hermione queried.

"Well, it's not how you normally behave. Your whole attitude is different and we don't know why. It's difficult not to be worried."said Harry.

"But why are you worried, it's not like I'm unhappy or doing something dangerous?" Hermione said, perplexed. She suddenly wondered could they possibly know what was going on in the stacks? Were they worried she was there so often?

"Well no... but it is different behaviour and we have to be extra careful these days. Dumbledore did say to tell you everything I know, that makes you an obvious target. So we have to worry, even about things that might look innocent, if we can't explain them." Harry was pleased that he'd managed to avoid the words Voldemort, imperius, and polyjuice in that statement.

Unfortunately Hermione was a good deal more intelligent than he was.

She bristled "So, let me get this straight: I've become 'dead sexy' and the only explanation you two can come up with is Dark Magic? Priceless! You're the best friends ever, aren't you?"

When she put it like that it did sound awful.

"I came up with loads of explanations!" Ron responded forcefully. "I can think of fifty reasons and each one has a first name and a surname! I think there's a bloke. Harry's the one obsessed with Death Eaters."

"Ron! The Death Eater thing was your idea!" Harry protested.

"Yeah well, in fairness to Harry, Moody does say constant vigilance" said Ron, as if this was some sort of concession.

"Oh yeah? Well where's Harry's theory that Lavender is some sort of spy trying to get information out of you?" said Hermione, also ignoring Harry's interjection.

"Harry knows I don't talk to Lav...about that sort of stuff" Ron hastily added when the knut dropped as to how bad not talking to his own girlfriend probably sounded.

"Well I don't talk to him either!" exclaimed Hermione.

"So there is a bloke." said Ron. He was completely calm. This and the admission she'd inadvertently made were aggravating Hermione no end. Harry glanced between the two nervously wondering if his worst fears for this conversation were about to be realised. He tried to think of something to diffuse the tension but before he even had a thought formed Ron spoke again in the same calm tone.

"Look Hermione, I know we didn't go about this very well" Hermione harrumphed her agreement "but Harry's just worried about you. There's a bloke. Why wouldn't you tell Harry about him? And I know we're fighting but I care about you too. I know you don't want to tell me anything but if he's a good bloke, nothing to worry about, tell Harry. I'll leave now so you can."

"Don't go" said Hermione quietly. She didn't look up. There was a long silence, really long. Harry started to wonder whether both the conversation and the argument were over when Hermione spoke. "There isn't really anything to tell" she said softly, her eyes glued to the Common Room carpet.

"But Ginny said there was a romance" Harry blurted out wincing, that might get Ginny in trouble.

Hermione gave a small snort and simply commented "That's a good word for it" with a little smile.

"So there's a bloke, a romantic bloke." Ron summed up the situation in a flat sounding voice.

Hermione looked up for the first time since the long silence. "Yes, there is" she admitted just as flatly. Harry was confused: how was a boyfriend not really anything?

Hermione exhaled slowly, giving herself time to think of a way to explain things.

"It's complicated" was what she came up with. Once again it seemed that the Common Room carpet had the most riveting pattern in the whole wide world.

Harry was about to ask how it was complicated, he'd even opened his mouth when Ron flicked him with a finger and gave him a look that clearly said shut-up-if-you-want-to-live. When did Ron become an expert on talking to girls? Maybe having a girlfriend was better for him than Harry had suspected.

"I like him, a great deal. I feel wonderful and special when I'm with him, like that's all that matters and I can forget about everything else. He makes me happy" she said smiling and still looking down. She continued as if to herself "that's it. I'm happy and that's why I'm more attractive now."

Ron hadn't known it was possible to feel this awful. Someone else had what he wanted: to make Hermione feel wonderful. He thought he might be sick. He had to know who it was.

"Who is it Hermione?" said Harry gently, looking at an alarmingly pale Ron out of the corner of his eye.

"I can't tell you that bit" said Hermione

"Bloody Hell Woman!" shouted Ron finally, totally, losing his remarkable cool.

Harry, trying not to laugh at Ron's reversion to type, looked at Hermione and said "he can't be that bad if he makes you feel so great. We'd give him a fair chance. Hang on, it's not Malfoy is it?"

Hermione's face was a picture of baffled disgust. "How on earth would I end up in a romance with Malfoy?"

"Well you won't tell us who it is and you say it's complicated" blustered Harry. "I thought maybe you were ashamed of him."

"I'm not ashamed of him but I can't tell you who it is. As I said it's complicated." She was staunch in her evasion.

"How complicated can it be Hermione?" asked Harry kindly " You like him, he likes you, you're not ashamed of him...is there something you aren't telling us?"

Hermione was truly stumped. What could she tell them? She didn't want to lie to them and she knew that they wouldn't be asking anything at all if they could possibly avoid it. What could she say? 'I'm going out with the Library' didn't seem like an answer that would end this inquisition. Suddenly she thought of the truth.

"He has a girlfriend" she admitted.

The look of shock on the faces of Harry and Ron was almost worth being told that if she was attractive they suspected a Death Eater plot. They had not expected that.

Ron recovered first. "What? Are you saying that there is something going on between you and some other girl's boyfriend? Harry I think we were right the first time, we should tell Dumbledore and we should check if hell has frozen over while we're at it! I can't believe you'd mess around with some bloke Hermione!"

"It's not like that Ronald" Hermione said icily.

"How? Sounds exactly like that!" Ron shouted. They were back to their usual arguing style any second now Hermione will leave in tears, thought Harry.

"I told you there wasn't really anything to tell. Nothing improper has happened" Hermione said. She was really embarrassed. She'd gone from scarlet woman back to naïve schoolgirl in less than a minute.

"So it's just a crush?" asked Harry. He wasn't sure why he added the 'just', crushes on unavailable people were a serious business and he should know.

"Yes...no...it's difficult to explain. There is something more there." said Hermione, she was even confusing herself at this stage.

"Has he told you he likes you?" asked Ron, he was trying really hard to keep calm.

"No" said Hermione miserably. "He's not into words."

"But he's done something that makes you think he does?" Ron prodded.

Hermione looked at him. She could see that he hated this conversation but not in the same way as Harry. Harry was mainly embarrassed to be talking about feelings at all. She finally answered him with "Yes, many, many little things."

"Tosser" stated Ron.

"He isn't. He hasn't done anything wrong" she said as a reflex. This was ridiculous! She was defending Ron to Ron.

"Yes he has Hermione. He's messing you about. And he's messin' his girlfriend about. You're sure he likes you, aren't you?" demanded Ron.

"Most of the tme I think he does but sometimes I'm not sure" Hermione mumbled. She wasn't sure why she was staying in this conversation but she couldn't see a way out and it was so good to be talking to Ron again even if this was the most uncomfortable interaction of her life. Though it was awful it was also unstoppable with ups and downs like a rollercoaster.

"You're the cleverest person in the school, if you sometimes think he likes you then he does. So why isn't he with you?" he pushed for a third time.

"I don't know. I don't know why he's not with me" said Hermione making a supreme effort not to let the tears burning at the edges of her eyes spill out and down her face as Ron asked her, what had to be the question of the year. "I used to think he just saw me as a friend but now I know he finds me attractive." Her voice was audibly shaky.

For Harry it was like watching a tennis match. He wasn't sure how he'd become an observer in a conversation he had to force on the other two but he wasn't even sure they knew he was still there.

"It's not good enough" snapped Ron.

"Maybe it is wrong but it doesn't feel wrong" Hermione returned.

Ron looked annoyed and said "I mean for you. It's not good enough for you Hermione. You're clever and loyal and brave and lovely." Ron's face heated up again, in for a knut in for a galleon he thought "and dead sexy. You deserve all of this bloke's attention not just what he has left over! Don't you think you are worth a proper boyfriend, not this bollocks?"

Hermione's expression had changed several times during Ron's little speech. It finally settled on rage. She stood up as if she'd been stung and in a voice that was clearly having trouble not shouting said "You are absolutely right, Ron! I deserve loads more that this...this...nonsense! This conversation is over, and so is the truce!" With that she stormed away from the pair of baffled and bemused boys and found herself once again slamming her dormitory door furious with the whole situation.

Down in the Common Room Harry looked at Ron and said "Do you know, I really thought she was going to swear?"


	10. The Fallout

Hermione's fury gradually dissipated as she thought about the conversation. Her feelings about all Ron had said turned to a dead weight that felt like concrete on her chest. The Real Ron had finally declared her a girl, to be cherished and still he couldn't see how that might relate to him. Hope seemed totally gone now.

Previously he'd been jealous but now he was offering mature friendly advice. It could only mean that he had no interest in her anymore now that he had Lavender. She had assumed that their relationship was not substantial, she'd thought about it more as a series of firsts that were rightfully hers which they were colluding to steal from her. She could no longer tell herself that. It was clear that while they'd been arguing something had changed Ron for the better. The only possibility was Lavender.

In turn this made her feel differently about what was happening in the stacks. What had started as comfort and become a joy now seemed like a sneering taunt. It was as if The Hot Spot now had a big sign above it that read "What YOU can NEVER have!"

Soberly she considered Ginny's advice to go out with other blokes. It was advice she'd given; shouldn't she be willing to take it? Well if she was going to get over Ron she couldn't keep letting The Hot Spot work its magic. How typical of her life; she agreed with Ron, she deserved more than either he or the Spot were going to offer her.

* * *

 

If the intention of Harry and Ron had been to stop themselves needing to worry about a suspiciously happy Hermione then the talk had been a clear success. She was demonstrably miserable. The bouncing had stopped. She stayed in her uniform all day long. There were no more unexplained disappearances and she could be seen studying in The Common Room much more often. Everything they had worried about was absent but Hermione was far from her old self. Much to Harry's surprise her normal wit and enthusiasm were also gone.

It took two days before a  _very_  annoyed Ginny returned the favour and cornered Harry and Ron after quidditch practise. In a voice that could strip paint, she demanded "What did you  _do_?"

It was useless to even pretend they didn't know what she meant. The problem was they genuinely didn't know what they'd done. Ron had even told her he thought she was sexy, twice! If Harry could get that sort of admission from Ginny he's be over the moon, he knew he would. Yet here she stood with a look of severe outrage directed towards them both when all Harry had done was manage to get Ron and Hermione speaking and to have an honest conversation. It appeared the world still wasn't fair.

They assumed Ginny couldn't know the facts of the situation. Hermione was definitely in the wrong. So between them they related what Hermione had told them, although the phrase "bloody mental" may have been used more than in Hermione's original explanation. Ginny remained suspiciously calm.

"Did you know he had a girlfriend?" questioned Harry.

"Of course" said Ginny with a shrug.

"And you're just fine with that, are you?" demanded Ron in his best big brother tone.

"No I'm not" Ginny returned hotly "the idiot has no business having any girlfriend who isn't Hermione!"

"Hang on! You don't like him? But what about all the giggling then?" asked Harry, genuinely bemused that Ginny could have been so supportive if she disapproved too.

"He's a good enough bloke I suppose" said Ginny looking daggers at Ron for some reason "but I have no idea what Hermione sees in him. It was harmless. I want her to be happy and she was until you two ruined it. Well done!"

They couldn't argue with that. Hermione was miserable now.

Ron looked at his sister steadily before replying "But this wasn't making her happy really, this bloke stringing her along, was it?"

"That's not the point!" Ginny shot back, although she was fairly sure he was right, which was surprising in itself "don't you think you've upset her enough this year? Couldn't you have left well enough alone?"

Harry stepped in before the siblings wound each other up any further. "It's not Ron's fault this time. It was my idea to talk to her. He complimented her and everything. It can't be his fault this time. We were trying...I mean we wanted...we were trying to be good friends to her." Harry's defence petered out in silence.

Ginny looked at Harry in a new way. "I can't believe you got them to talk, impressive Harry. She won't tell me what you did either. But you are wrong about one thing. I'd bet good money that it is Ron's fault." and with that Parthian shot she disappeared once more into the girl's changing rooms.

* * *

Hermione felt as if she were back at square one. She was fighting with Ron and had nothing to comfort her but schoolwork or odd snatches of time spent with Harry or Ginny. How did she get back here? The talk had seemed to contain earth-shattering revelations at every turn yet she had gone backwards as a result. She'd give herself a week she decided and then she'd put operation Get-Over-Ron into practise. She'd say yes to the next person who asked her to Hogsmeade, or anything, get a few boyfriends under her belt but first she'd give herself a week to soothe her ruffled feathers.

It was unfortunate for her that the week that she'd set aside to confuse her doormates by listening to compilation tapes on her walkman, eating too much chocolate and re-evaluating her new wardrobe also contained Ron's 17th birthday. She'd looked forward to the day because she was curious to see how the wizarding world's celebration of majority differed to what she was familiar with. What was the wizard equivalent to the key of the front door? She had planned on getting him muggle style coming of age presents: a bottle of champagne, some cufflinks in the shape of quaffles she'd seen that rotated (ok not very muggle but the cufflinks idea was) and handwritten vouchers from her parents for driving lessons over the summer. It all seemed very silly now.

When she thought of the whole of his birthday stretching out with no interaction between them she felt hollow. She couldn't talk to him, he'd made his lack of feelings clear and she would need to make some progress towards getting over him before she could go back to being his friend. She couldn't stand the thought of watching all the congratulations he'd receive over breakfast or of coldly ignoring him either. She needed a compromise.

She'd been unhappy for a week. It couldn't hurt. It'd be like a goodbye. It couldn't really hurt, one final goodbye.

It was still early when she stood in The Spot. His warmth enveloped her, she felt the familiar surge of energy pass through her and while it was comforting she found it difficult to hold back tears. The feeling of being in Ron's arms was bittersweet. Today he was an adult and she wouldn't share the day with him , except here, in this half-way, because he'd chosen someone else. She thought of all her when-I-grow-up dreams and how they'd always included Ron, as a matter of course. She didn't know how long she stood there like this, perhaps half an hour. She was lost in the fog of The Spot and her unhappy thoughts when it happened.

The spot flickered like a dying flourescent bulb and disappeared.

"RON!" she screamed and her feet ran her to the closed doors of the Hospital Wing.

 


	11. Bargaining

_Anything. I'll do anything. I'll never go back there. I'll never ask for anything ever again. But he has to be ok. He has to be ok. He has to be ok. I'll be good about Lavender. I won't ever fight with him again. I promise. He can't. He can't. He has to be ok._

Hermione bargained with the Almighty, or whatever there was to bargain with, for all she was worth. She'd listened to Harry's explanation several times now but she still couldn't take it in. She just kept thinking about that awful moment when The Spot had died. Her mind was racing. She didn't trust herself to make any sort of sense. She was thankful no one seemed to need her to talk. Harry and Ginny paced outside the doors but she thought even that much movement might make her be sick.

_Please. I won't ever expect anything more than friendship again. Please._

The idea that she'd worried about Ron and Lavender seemed laughable now. Ron with someone else versus no Ron at all? There was no contest. Come to think of it there was no contest between The Real Ron and The Hot Spot either and even if there had been, it was clear now that she couldn't have one without the other. How could she had been so stupid as to think that any of it mattered? How could she have wasted time fighting with him?

_I'll never fight with him again._

In the hours they waited outside the Hospital Wing doors Hermione had time to think about many things. She was heartily sorry she'd ended the truce he'd offered. She might not know how the argument had started but why had she prolonged it? It wasn't Ron's fault he'd hurt her so much with his comments on her romance. He didn't know he was the mystery bloke-with-girlfriend she was involved with. He was just trying to be a good friend and he'd done a good job of it too, if you looked at it objectively. She could see that now. It was her own silly fault that she wanted more than that. She hadn't managed to be as good a friend to him. When had she even been slightly understanding about Lavender?

_I'll make friends with Lavender if he wakes up. I'll find some way to like her._

She was so selfish and thoughtless. She'd never even seriously thought about how The Spot might have worked. A tiny, petty, part of her was pleased that it had some connection to Actual Ron. On some level she'd been worried it was all in her head despite Ginny's similar experience. But what if what she had done  _was_  part of some Dark Magic and had weakened him at the crucial moment he was poisoned?

_I'll never go near it again, if he just gets better._

Eventually they were allowed in to see him at around the time the twins arrived from Hogsmeade. She starred at Ron lying there. Now that she could see that he was breathing her fear that he was really dead and no one had yet told them abated. He looked awful. He was a sort of grey colour and kept mumbling in his sleep as if he was having a bad dream.

She was having to resist the urge to tidy his hair. Why did she do that? Why was she always correcting him? Why was she always so harsh towards him? Of course he'd prefer Lavender who was capable of showing him she thought he was great. Why did she have to criticise every little thing? Like his language. What she wouldn't do to hear him swear now?

_Come on Ron tell us all to eff off and let you sleep._

Nothing. And she'd take anything.

_Just wake up and be Ron. That's all I ask: for you to be Ron._

In the background of her attempts to wake Ron with her mind she could hear Harry explaining what happened to the twins. She'd heard it each time but this time it seemed she could connect the words as more that meaningless sounds. This time it sank in. Who could possibly think Slughorn would pass on a good gift? He never did. It would be a stupid plan. Without realising she was doing it she said as much out loud, speaking for the first time in hours. Her voice sounded awful, like it does first thing in the morning.

"Er-my-nee" croaked Ron.

Everyone starred. Hermione valiantly resisted the urge to throw herself on his chest and weep with relief. Her name! It was so much better than eff off!

_Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't go back to the Stacks. Just Ron, as he is, from now on._

Even as she thought this her body betrayed her good intentions. She used the distraction of Hagrid's dramatic entrance to discretely tidy Ron's unruly hair.

 


	12. 25 Years Later

25 Years Later...

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny hadn't attended the Victory Celebration at Hogwarts since their children had begun attending the school, focusing instead on official Ministry remembrances and smaller, family memorials. They didn't want to embarrass the kids but as with much else in parenting teenagers, it appeared that with the best of intentions they'd made the wrong choice. When they'd sent their respective polite declines to this year's invitations, they received howlers from James practically by return owl.

"WHAT'S THE BLOODY POINT IN HAVING PARENTS/UNCLES AND AUNTS WHO ARE WAR HEROES, IF NEVER ONCE, IN SEVEN BLOODY YEARS, DO THEY COME TO THE BLOODY PARTY!"

It shouted before tearing itself up. Apparently the kids had been hoping each year they'd get access to the V.I.P. Tent of the celebrations. Each year they'd been knocked back. The tent had gained a reputation for coolness because Teddy Lupin had always been allowed in when he was at Hogwarts and had talked it up elaborately. The tales of various magical treats and graphic war stories got more outrageous with each year he was gone from the school. The tent was reserved for people who'd been in the battle or relatives of the fallen. In reality it was a rather tame affair apart from George revealing the annual Fred Weasley Memorial Wheeze. James was about to realise, that like many much-anticipated grown up treats, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

And so it was that a rather baffled Golden Trio plus Ginny who arrived at the celebrations to mortify their respective children, nieces and nephews by using their family nicknames in public, misusing slang terms and generally being themselves. The younger generation soon saw how much better they'd had it when only their grandparents and George came.

James heartily wished he'd never been so gullible when he saw his mother drag Principal Longbottom onto the dancefloor "for old time's sake". He'd been aware for a few years now that the war stories told to him and his cousins were 'the clean version' and one day, probably soon, he would have to be told the truth. If there was a version where his Mum had old times with Uncle Neville he was sure he didn't want to hear it! Even though his parents were embarrassingly affectionate, and most of the time he was desperate for them to leave off the lovey-dovey stuff, the idea of them not being with each other was, well, horrible.

The look of utter horror on James' face as Ginny and Neville danced around the floor was too much for the Golden Trio. Ron nudged Harry and Hermione started to chuckle. George followed their collective gaze and commented "Reckon Jamesie's just realised his Dad could have been a different war hero?"

Within seconds all of them were doubled over with laughter, tears streaming down their cheeks.

"I knew our decision not to mention anything when he told us he was seeing Megan Thomas was a good one" sighed Harry, through the laughter.

"Yeah mate, much more fun to torture him with Ginny and Neville's sneeze of a relationship first before you tell him the real shocker" snorted Ron.

"I love having teenagers" sighed George "so much scope for pranking."

"Poor James" scolded Hermione when she'd composed herself a bit "do you two want to know everyone Molly ever looked at before Arthur?" This comment was met with howls of protest from the Weasley brothers. They still believed their mother had lived in a glass case until their father came along apparently and even then they'd only ever held hands and kissed. Where they'd got seven kids from was a mystery.

As Neville dipped Ginny on the dancefloor, James turned a sort of greenish colour which started the four of them laughing again.

"The great thing about this is that Ginny's, ahem, popularity, gives us loads of scope to scar the boy with hints." George smirked.

"Hey! That's not fair Ginny fancied Harry from before she was in school!" protested Hermione "Her past isn't that scandalous. You used to swap girlfriends with Fred!" she said waggling a finger at George. "You went out with a notorious Quidditch groupie" the finger waggled at Ron "and you were so clueless that you didn't even notice Ginny was a girl until two years after Neville did!" the finger accused Harry.

"Oh Hermione, you should put that finger down" Harry grinned "none of  _our_  youthful indiscretions involved a months-long romance with someone else's boyfriend!"

"What?" George shouted, wide-eyed at this revelation.

Hermione covered her face in her hands and said something that sounded like "emer hod hide four hotted hall bow tat."

Ron gently removed a hand to reveal a scarlet faced Hermione and lent down to force her to make eye-contact. "Want to repeat that love?"

"I said 'Oh my God. I'd forgotten all about that'" Hermione said quietly.

"I hadn't" said Ron holding the eye-contact with his shamefaced wife.

"When did this happen?" asked George with a grin, he was enjoying this immensely.

"The year after you left" Harry informed him "it was an eventful year for us, romantically speaking."

"Who was he then? Someone embarrassing obviously. Crabbe? Goyle? No wait they'd never have girlfriends surely?" George speculated.

"We don't know" crowed Harry with a cheeky grin "she never told us."

"You still don't know?" George starred at Ron "But you used to be all jealous about her, it was great fun for us to wind you up. You never found out?"

"I have an idea who it was but I'm not saying" Ron replied, not looking at his brother but instead straight at his wife.

"You think you know who it is and you never told me?" Harry protested to the unhearing Ron. Ron and Hermione were looking steadily at each other. They had now been married for longer than they'd been friends or lovers. They had a whole silent conversation with a few raised eyebrows and some almost imperceptible head bobbing.

"I can't  _believe_  that's who you think it was! It doesn't even fit the facts!" Hermione yelled suddenly.

"Yeah, well, you lied about the facts to cover up!" Ron shouted back.

"You're  _so_  wrong" Hermione countered making huge gestures with her hands as if to indicate the massive size of Ron's wrongness.

"Anyone else and you'd have told years ago" Ron replied with an expression that bordered on a sneer.

"Right! That's it I'm showing you how wrong you are!" and with that she grabbed his arm and stalked him out of the tent.

At a normal gathering a couple having a huge row would get attention but there were so many extended Weasley relations and friends of the family present that hardly anyone turned a hair at Ron and Hermione's argument. They'd heard it all before.

* * *

In a very dark corner of the courtyard a blond headed boy got quite a shock as Granger-Weasleys swept past him shouting at one another. "Rose love" he whispered to the girl doing wonderful things to his neck. "Merlin petal...I don't want you to stop but I think that was your parents just now?"

"Mmmmmm sounded like them, don't worry they don't notice a thing when they're fighting. I once turned Hugo blue while they had a row and neither of them batted an eyelid" the girl replied.

"Seriously?"

"I turned him back eventually. They won't have noticed a thing."

The couple stopped talking.

* * *

In the Entrance Hall Ron suddenly stopped in his tracks. Hermione was several paces ahead before she noticed. "What?" she demanded crossly.

"I have a weird feeling that we just missed something" Ron said. He shook himself. "Where could you possibly be taking me Hermione? How can you prove it?"

She ploughed on without an answer. As they reached the library she nodded to Madam Pince and shushed the still protesting Ron. Now that she was approaching the stacks Hermione suddenly doubted that this would work. She found the aisle and wondered if her theory about the magic was correct and even if so would it prove anything?

Ron saw her tense, he knew her so well, she was unsure about something (a rare event). He whispered to her in the darkness of the stacks. "I don't know why you're doing this Hermione love. I accepted this a long time ago. You might have loved me second, but longest and best. I'm more than happy with that."

She turned to look at him. She could just make out his silhouette but she didn't both uttering a lumos. She knew every inch of his beautiful form. She'd loved him all her life. She couldn't imagine ever knowing anyone else in the same way. She adored him, with every part of herself. It hurt in the pit of her stomach, the revelation that he thought he had come in second in any part of their story.

She stepped forward. It was still there. It still felt amazing and it was still Ron. True, it was slightly different, it seemed slower in some ill-defined way but also stronger, less tentative. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath and took a step backwards. Now she did cast a lumos.

"Ron love, step forward."

"What's going on Hermione?" he whispered without obeying "Why are we in the Library?"

"Just step forward and you'll see, I think" she assured him.

This time he did obey, looking skeptical. As he stepped into the spot his body went rigid, as if he was high alert. Then all of a sudden he relaxed and his eyes closed. He gave a stretch that Hermione knew to be a sign of deep contentment.

"How are you doing this love? I knew marrying the brightest witch of the age would have benefits" he said in a satisfied voice.

"I'm not doing anything other than casting a lumos so I can see your face."

"But you must be. It's like that thing that Hugo used to love when he was little. You know, that your Dad did. What was it called again? Where he made it sound like there was someone in the cupboard?"

"Throwing you voice? What's that got to do with anything?"

"Isn't that what you're doing? Throwing yourself at me? I can see you over there but it feels like you're over here. It's amazing by the way. I love your fantastic brain" he said with another little noise of happiness.

"I'm getting credit for something the Library is doing Ron. It's not me. In fact it works the same way for me. Well obviously, it's not me when I'm in it. Step forward again Ron."

Instead of doing that Ron grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. It felt wonderful. He nuzzled her neck, commenting that she smelt lovely. After several minutes of kissing they'd moved out of the spot without noticing. Now Ron was against the shelves with Hermione, hands in his hair and her lips on his ear.

"I love it when you distract me from an argument" Ron murmured "That's when I know I was right."

"What are you on about? I'm right and I proved it!"

"How? By snogging me in the Library?"

"No Ron, the spot. I found the Spot in sixth year" she spoke slowly and clearly, looking straight into his eyes, waiting for the penny to drop.

"Oh."

"Yes."

"So he doesn't know it was him? No wonder you said it was complicated! And you never told him? Not even in the tent when I was gone?"

"I'm trying to tell him now but he's being amazingly thick about it."

"Eh?"

"It was you Ron. It still is."

"Me? Really?" he let out a long breath "I need to sit down and rethink, well, everything."

Hermione grinned into his chest, holding him close in the semi-darkness.

"So just to clarify: I'm the mystery bloke-with-girlfriend. I made you feel like that. It was me. Wow. I was so frustrated and jealous and it was me all along. I even read Wuthering Heights to try and work out what was going on!"

"You did? What did you think?" Hermione asked trying really hard not to laugh.

When he replied "I thought they were all mental!" she couldn't keep it in any longer. Her laugh was unstoppable and contagious. At twenty-five years remove they could both see the humour in the situation. Not being angst-ridden teenagers anymore helped too. They ended up heaving with laughter, a tangled mess of limbs on the floor of the stacks. When they finally calmed down a bit Ron stroked her hair and asked "How does it work though? How did I not know if it was me you were with?"

"I've thought about that a lot and I'm not sure but I have a theory. I brought Ginny here once, when she was with Dean, but the spot was Harry for her. Then when you were poisoned" Hermione stammered and Ron's arm tightened round her waist "it stopped when I was in it. It's one of the most horrible moments of my life."

"Oh my love" Ron whispered into her hair.

Hermione swallowed and continued "Look where we are Ron. These books tell the greatest love stories in Muggle culture. The books may not be magical but they've been in a magical library for a really long time. I think they got ideas."

"The books are doing it? But why?"

"I think they recognise a great love story when they see one. You have never come second to anyone, even the books know it."

* * *

James left the tent at the end of the night having seen and heard enough of his parents romantic history to wake him up in the middle of the night for the rest of the year. He grinned to himself when he thought how mysterious he was going to be tomorrow at breakfast when the younger kids asked him about it. If he was going to be mentally scarred he was making sure the rest of them joined him in their turn.

Ron and Hermione had wandered back into the tent looking very dishevelled as the band was packing up. On the other side of the tent Ginny and Harry sat at a table, the chosen one rubbing his wife's sore feet.

"Where were they all night?" Ginny asked.

"Oh they had a row about who Ron thought Hermione's mystery man was in sixth year when you were dancing with ex number one" Harry replied with a cheeky smile.

"Oh I'd forgotten all about that!" Said Ginny unaware she was quoting Hermione from earlier in the evening. "but I bet I know where they were" she said with a mischievous grin that echoed that of her son, several floors up in the castle. She thought for a moment. "Harry you know how you saved the school and the whole world?"

"Ye-es" he replied suspiciously.

"Do you think you could get Neville to let us into the Library even though it's after hours? I have something I want to show you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was such fun to revisit. I know it contains everything but the kitchen sink but that last chapter still makes me grin. I hope it made you grin too.


End file.
